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Music at a mouse click

Electronic dance music artist Mikas releases new music via digital network
1320mikas
Costs for traditional route were just too high. Photo submitted

There will be no album launch party, no CD release signing. Mika’s inaugural recording will only be available via cyberspace – the new music distribution frontier.

The Quebec native researched what it would cost him to produce and release his electronic dance music on CD and vinyl. Costs were high and the challenge of securing a major label and distributor even higher.

And while he aspires to vinyl production in the future – staying true to the roots of dance music – digital now seems like the way of the future with the only CD involved in the process coming from the web browser who downloads the music and burns it to disc.

"The CD market is really getting slower," said Mika, otherwise known as Michel Anguelov. "People who are into electronic dance music tend to be into technology and computers, so they can get it faster into their computer or iTune. It’s easier than buying a CD… Vinyl is really expensive to press and ship, although I would like to do it sometime in the future. The sound of vinyl is something special."

Anguelov signed on with a digital download network called beatport.com and distributor ingrooves.com to launch and distribute his new full-length album in June, alleviating the need to sign on with a label. Now based in Whistler, the artist remains independent, producing his music under his own label, Progressive Grooves Records.

Promotions are also another costly adventure for artists. An online agent was Anguelov’s solution. Record Pool exposes his music to DJs global wide. Turntablists access the music for free and in return they submit comments on the music as well as a rating.

"Awesome!! Deep, dark and warm. Very morning suited," radio DJ Wes Straub writes.

Anguelov says that without avenues such as these, he would not be able to live in Whistler and produce his music.

"There isn’t a big electronic dance music scene here," he said. "This way I tap into a world-wide audience and I can do it from home."

Anguelov will bring his 10 years of dance music to the world, a progressive sound sprung from his patchwork of experience spanning everything from deep house to hard-hitting trance anthem.

"It’s progressive electronic," he said of his new music. "A movement inspired by progressive rock mixed with disco and acid house. There is a lot more soundscaping. It can be Latin and techno. It runs really deep. It’s a lot of work to make these songs."

Visit the artist’s web site at www.progressivegrooves.com.